A Beautiful Dark

said. “You could have seen that this month. What about favorite color?”
    “Obvious.” He snorted. “Sky blue. Has been since kindergarten.”
    “Lucky guess. You just said that because of my name. Favorite book?”
    “ Persuasion , by Jane Austen—though you’d never admit it to anyone. You secretly think it’s romantic that they have all these feelings for each other that they can’t express.”
    I looked out at the constellations. “You lie,” I said.
    “No way, it’s true. You did your seventh grade end-of-year presentation on how it was bullshit, but anyone really watching you knew you loved that book.” He shifted his position and added, “It’s why you stayed with Jordan for so long, even though you knew he cheated on you. You were hoping he still loved you.”
    I hadn’t told Asher about my evil ex-boyfriend.
    Slowly I turned to face him. He was still looking off into the distance, squinting like the light from the moon hurt his eyes. In that moment, I almost let myself think he was kind of beautiful.
    “What else do you know?”
    “I know you haven’t dated anybody since him.”
    “Yeah,” I said. “So?”
    “I know you haven’t let yourself like anybody since him.”
    I fiddled at a stray yarn on one of my gloves.
    “You don’t know a thing about me,” I said, looking away. “Not really.”
    “I know a lot more about you than you know.” He looked out past the moon again. “During the day, you get this look. It’s like no matter how much fun you’re having or who you’re talking to, there’s still something haunting you. Ever since the day I first saw you. But when you sleep, this ”—he touched his index finger to the little worry crease between my eyebrows—“goes away.”
    He let his hand fall away, the back of his fingers trailing down my cheek. Goose bumps pricked along my neck and arms.
    I swallowed, trying to keep it together.
    “You watch me when I sleep?”
    “Once or twice.” He smiled. “I don’t exactly make a habit of it. It’s a weird feeling, being in someone’s room when they don’t know you’re there.”
    “No kidding! How would you like it if I spied on you?”
    “You’d have to find me first.”
    I punched his arm—hard. He didn’t even flinch. “Don’t ever come into my room uninvited again.”
    “I was watching over you.”
    “Yeah, well, do it from somewhere else.” And I thought of something else. “Does Devin come into my room?”
    “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him there.”
    “Does he know that you’ve been watching me? It seems like you have an unfair advantage.”
    He looked away. “I’m sure Devin has other things he should be more concerned about.”
    “Yeah.” I nodded. “Like Raven.”
    He whipped around. In a second, his eyes had grown cold, sharp.
    “How do you know about her?” he asked.
    Was he not supposed to know?
    “Is she here ?” he said.
    “What? No, no. I just heard, I mean, from Devin—”
    “Don’t lie to me, Skye, I swear to god—”
    “Isn’t that a little blasphemous?”
    “Dammit, Skye, can you be serious for like two seconds?”
    “Oh, you’re one to talk! You’re going to tell me to be serious? I don’t think you’ve stopped cracking jokes at my expense since you’ve been here! Oh, wait, no, I’m sorry, since I knew you were here!”
    “I’m only doing it to protect you! Do you think this is easy for me? To lurk in the shadows and watch like some poor creep and not be able to do a damn thing about it? To not help you? Warn you?”
    “Well, you’re sure making up for lost time with your party tricks and your snow caves and your fire. God, you’re infuriating. You come here with this insane news and then you let me go on a ski trip ? You let me eat lunch in the—in the cafeteria ? While you flirt with other girls as if you hadn’t just shattered my entire life?”
    “Do you know why I joke all the time?” He stood up as if he’d been wound up and sprung. His eyes glinted in the moonlight. “Do you know why I’ve been keeping things all light and devil-may-care? Because if you knew—if you really knew what was happening—inside of you, within the Order, within the Rebellion, if you knew what the angels are saying, what’s waiting for you, you would be sobbing, Skye. You would be paralyzed with fear. That’s why I tease you. I’m doing it for you. Because if I didn’t, you wouldn’t make it. You wouldn’t last another week.”
    I stood up, too,